Hyper Notorius Monster Hunt
by Levuica
Summary: Stories of the rare enemies hunted in Vana'diel. Humor and depiction of life in Vana'diel through the eyes of a constant observer. Humor, fun. Read and review please! King Artho and Simurgh up!
1. Introduction

Hyper-Notorious Monster Hunt

By: Levuica

This is a collection of little stories that cover Vana'diel's elite hunts and a little humor about each one. Hoping to enlighten people about the nature of these hunts and what it really seems like to camp them. They are short stories, all hopefully under a thousand words about the camp, what is the goal and a little about the beautiful world of Vana'diel.

Some of these hunts will have gear spotted off other members of the groups and others will just be hinted at. Generally you should be able to identify what the people wear by what they wear and the general intensity of the mood.

Many of the fights are long drawn out waiting periods with variation on when and how they appear. Others are almost never challenged. It goes to serve as a reference for the many ways to do battle and understand something about the world, even if you have done them yourself.

Most importantly, this is just a fun little set of stories about the monsters we hunt though! 


	2. King Artho

King Artho By: Levuica

The serene waters of Lake Mechicume of Jugnar Forest, crystal clear and absolutely wonderful spring water! The crystal clear lake always is loaded with some of the most tasty fish in the world to, be it bass or emperor fish. Many people gather around the lake to fish or to relax, but then you have the third reason: hunters.

Every month in Jugnar, a small collection of about ten crabs come on shore almost unexpectedly. Referred to as Knight Crabs they are capable of killing just about any of the wildlife in Jugnar Forest alone. They have nothing of value and are always greeted when they come on shore; not with cheers or celebration, but rather a collection of the must brutal and powerful cleaving, piercing, stabbing and wicked swords, guns and spells to ever appear on Vana'diel.

Other elite members of several high-ranking clans gather around, anticipating their arrival like bears awaiting the return of the salmon. These men and women wear the hides of great and powerful legendary beasts, mantles made of the hides Cerberus and Amemet. Their bodies graced with armor made from behemoth leather from the great beast itself. Others wear gear given to them from the lesser gods for defeating them in combat. Strong osodes, kotes, haidates, and sune-ates. They display weapons ripped from the farthest reaches of Vana'diel, such as golden scythes, golden axes and legendary weapons like Joyeuse and Excalibur. Granted with awesome power that only the strongest in the world have, they crowd the western beach of the lake. Watching and waiting for their helpless prey to make their arrival.

I often go to these 'events'. Competition is fierce, each side boiling over with fire for victory and the riches that may come to them. Even through rain and thunderstorms they stand unaided and ever vigilant, surely they must be soaked to the bone and freezing cold. For three nights a month they watch the waters, rarely moving, never sleeping, always ready to pounce.

The days of hardship that await them are tiring themselves, they cannot waver or else they will surely fair and all will be lost. The mental strain of being constantly alert sets fear and nervous anticipating within most people, but for these battle-hardened warriors they thrive on it. Even when facing down gusty winds, torrential rains, oppressive heat, blinding blizzards, utter darkness or even solar eclipses they stand ready for their mark. Such discipline and control they have to each other and themselves.

At last the Knight Crabs arrive on the beaches! Everyone is alert and ready after nearly three days of waiting. A ranger outfitted in gear from the gods raises his gun to the crab and fires, everyone awakens and unsheathes their swords, draws their bows and arrows. Mages stand ready to unleash powerful spells upon the helpless and almost defenseless crabs. A die-hard warrior jumps into the fray, swinging two axes and yelling a war-cry to his comrades, the slaughter begins!

As the teams shoot and slaughter the crabs it is clear that even these powerful crabs are no match for the onslaught that they are receiving. Picking off the crabs one by one, their number dwindle from ten to one. Everyone crowds the beaches, looking away from the final kill, as if seeing the unseen through the waters of the lake. As the last crab falls to the ground silence takes over. A moment of peace and quiet, but underlying this solitude is a thousand prayers, curses and hopes. Awaiting the final test of their long camp, their unceasing need to prey upon these crabs.

Within minutes a powerful crab comes out of the water, instantly everyone jumps on it, but first to claim is the die-hard warrior with a provoke. King Artho belongs to him and his comrades. They descend upon the crab, flailing swords, spears, axes, poles and knives. In fury the mages unleash elemental hell upon the crab, freezing, shocking and burning the crab alive with their magic. With all their might even the peaceful white mage takes off her hood and screams, "Hell ya! Come on you little bitch, have some of this!" Racing into the crab the white mage unleashes hell with a club, delivering six powerful hits to the tough shell of the crab. A warrior cheers her on and yells, "Kick it up!" before unleashing his own barrage of five devastating slams of his axe upon the shell of the crab. Rangers shoot through crowds of people, slamming silver bullets into the armor and in some cases going as far as cannon shells. Surrounded by a mass of flailing weapons the crab is not defenseless, but all attention is focused on a ninja wearing a red piece of Koga chain mail. Four copies of the ninja surround the crab, hiding the real one. King Artho tries to kill the ninja who delivers powerful fast hits and infuriates the crab by provoking it to attack him.

Within minutes the crab falls to the ground, the people let out a big cheer! Everyone notes this moment and celebrates. The others outside the clan fume and look on with suspicion. At last the call is given that King Artho had a Speed Belt on his body along with a piece of damascene cloth! A pissed off warrior draws his axe and slams it into the nearest tree, hacking at it. Other more reserved people openly congratulate, but are upset over not claiming it as theirs first.

With time peace and civility come back into place, the serene waters of the lake are once again viewed. Helping to restore the calm nature of this place. After a short time everyone begins to leave, on to their lives and maybe even another hunt that lies just around the corner. 


	3. Simurgh

Simurgh By: Levuica

A legendary giant bird roosts among the peak of Rolanberry Fields, a bird known as Simurgh. The giant bird easily is taller then any Galka, easily twice as tall. It makes its roost by the Fountain of Partings. To get to this area one must pass through Dietmund's Field (an old friend of mine to be honest). Then you enter into the dreaded Crawler's Nest, those annoying and dangerous crawlers usually do not threaten us as we boldly move through their home. Regarded as predators they do little to act on us, but for the most part a bunch of less experienced adventurers are constantly the center of attention in other places. By whatever means Crawler's Nest is safe for the most powerful adventurers to cross through unaided.

One you've passed through the disgusting tunnels of Crawler's Nest there is a beautiful leaf-strewn lake. Simurgh often appears on this lake once a month, and as always adventurers are awaiting his arrival. The giant bird is typically more dangerous then one would initially expect. After about twenty minutes of being attacked it becomes enraged and will send even the most powerful of elite hunters to their graves.

Last month a small team of five attacked the bird as soon as it appeared. A powerful samurai, an incredible monk, a humble white mage and a cute Tarutaru black mage and a bold, but seemingly narcoleptic red mage. The monk ran in and chi blasted the bird, immediately the fight was on. The samurai and monk attacked the bird and using ninjutsu shadow clones were able to save themselves from the powerful beak of Simurgh…most of the time.

The white mage often healed the injured fighters, however the red mage seemed more interested in sleeping or doing something to actually take a major role in the fight, no more then a few enfeebling spells were cast in the duration of the fight. The black mage, paranoid at becoming the target from spells had apparently decided not to risk it and chose to watch instead.

The battle went on for fifteen minutes, Simurgh was on his last leg. It would be over soon it seemed, the monk flipped out and started hitting the bird with everything she had. A new-age Rocky of sorts. The two fighters became exhausted and tired soon after, but kept hacking away at the beast for five more minutes. Simurgh repeatedly sang songs to put people to sleep, the magical notes of the bird had the effect to slow people down as well as induce sleep!

At last it had been twenty minutes, other hunters started whispering to one another, hurried quick calls through their link pearls and parties. They were expecting something to happen. The die-hard hunters started to prepare themselves for combat while the group was killing it. Simurgh would fall in a minute or two at this pace, but then it happened. Simurgh became faster and stronger then before, his defense and evasion improved rapidly. A joke between the hunters refers to this insane growth as 'DBZ Mode' in which the weak suddenly find renewed strength and increase in power over drawn out battles. Laugh all you want, but 'DBZ Mode' is also referred to as 'God Mode' because all physical and almost all magic attacks become pointless and Simurgh's attacks become overwhelming.

In a frantic rush the white mage cried out, "I don't want to die!" and used magic to heal the party and turn and run in the opposite direction. Simurgh turned around and shot towards the white mage who ran for her life. Though it didn't take long for the speedy bird to catch up to her. With two pecks the white mage was down in the ground, unconscious from the injury.

The samurai came in and jumped on the bird, swinging his katana wildly in a spiral. Simurgh just turned, cocked its head and bit into the samurai. The samurai gasped and fell to the ground. Then the poor monk stood out against the bird and a futile effort unleashed a stream of powerful hits upon Simurgh, but not a single one connected. Simurgh flew up into the air and kicked the monk with its foot, landed on the ground and screamed instantly making the monk fall to the ground with a thud.

At last the other hunters joined in, over twenty tired to get control of the beast, but the humble black mage nabbed it by stunning the creature and by the rules of claiming had all right to it. Though as soon as he took claim no sooner had the beak been pounded into his head, falling him to. Again the hunters joined in, my group managed to wrest control of the beast and the blitzkrieg began!

The monks went into a frenzy, warriors went berserk and mages exploded in rage unleashing furious amounts of ice and thunder raining down on the bird. Even the great dream keeper Diablos aided a Summoner in their falling of Simurgh. The battle lasted just one minute, but Simurgh managed to kill five of the powerful hunters before he to fell to the ground.

Standing triumphant over the body of the giant bird and coincidently over their fallen comrades they shouted, "OWNED!" and a lone paladin screamed, "CAUSE I'M THE JUGGERNAUT, BITCH!" The celebration was joyous, but the fallen had to be raised from the dead by a white mage before they two could celebrate, even in their weakness. The prize for their fight: a Damascus ingot, worth a good 2,500,000 gil. Definitely a cause for celebration. 


End file.
